Remembering God's abundance.

BY CLARA GUNDERSON

“Come and dine,” the Master calleth, “come and dine.” There is plenty at God’s table all the time. He who fed the multitude, turned the water into wine, to the hungry calleth now, “Come and dine.”

I am sitting at God’s banquet table! The King himself invited me. “I’m not dressed properly,” I cried. “I can’t come in these rags.” But with a look of love, he changed my rags into a white robe. Taking my hand, he led me to my place. The table was laden with everything imaginable to satisfy my thirst and hunger. First, forgiveness was passed to me, and I eagerly accepted it. Then I shared it with my neighbor. We rejoiced together in the mercy and grace of our Host. I reached for the healing offered me and heard Jesus say, “Freely, freely, you have received; freely, freely, give.” My glance found my neighbor, and the Spirit worked in our hearts. There is a banner overhead with the word “love” on it. The door to the banquet hall is opened wide, and the hosts of heaven are ushering in all those whose robes are white. Soft music is heard, and I recognize the hymn, “Just as I am, without one plea, But that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou bid’st me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.” Then, as with one voice, we break into praise: “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!”

Abundance is what I hope you recognize in the above vignette. Abundance of God’s love, grace, sustenance, joy, and praise.

The Scriptures themselves express the concept of abundance using such words as forever, always, continuously, satisfying, high as the heavens, from east to west, and overflowing; it’s also expressed in a negative form: I will never leave you. What could express the abundance of God more than John 3:16? “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall have everlasting life.” Jesus demonstrated the scope of his care at the wedding in Cana, changing water into such a fine wine that even the steward was amazed. And think of the feedings of the multitudes when baskets full of leftovers were collected. Abundance, indeed!

At our Annual Conference in June, John 10:10 was the theme: “… I came so that they would have life, and have it abundantly.” Each time it was read, I couldn’t help thinking about my dad. I was with him pretty much full-time in his last years of life. One of the presenters at the conference pointed out how we could have a mindset of scarcity or abundance, and I recognized that Dad’s mindset was one of scarcity. He never rested his effort to provide for himself. A self-educated electrician, he provided well for his family, too, but was hard-pressed to see that it was the Lord’s provision. We talked about it, he and I. Our outlook on life was so different. Dick and I had committed our lives to work in missions and ministry. In doing so, we had to depend on the Lord’s abundance each day. Dad thought that missionaries were (in his own words) “just gallivanting around the world.” Putting ourselves in the Lord’s hands just didn’t click with him. Over the years, though, we rubbed off on him. One Christmas I crossstitched a sampler with John 10:10 on it for him, and he hung it on his wall! Dad wasn’t an unbeliever, but he was caught up in the burden of living—which happens to all of us, doesn’t it? When Mom died, he was a very bitter man for several days. Then the Lord spoke to him, demonstrating the abundance of his love for Mom, and Dad’s heart was healed.

The story in the Bible of the widow who gave “all she had to live on” makes me think that this wasn’t the first time she did so. I think she’d feasted at God’s table before! On the other hand, the disciples seemed to have learned nothing from the miracle of the feeding of the multitudes. As they set out in a boat to go to the other side, they realized they only had one loaf of bread, and they began discussing it among themselves. Jesus chided them: “Haven’t you learned anything?”

Have we? Do we recognize God’s abundance each day?

With his manna he doth feed And supplies our every need; Oh, tis sweet to sup with Jesus all the time! “Come and dine,” the Master calls to the hungry, “come and dine!”

Gunderson lives in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.